


It Was Nighttime When It Happened

by ahbonjour



Series: the gaster stories [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pacifist Route, but frisk is filled with D E T E R M I N A T I O N, everyone is hurting, implied other routes, tried to get as many characters as i could, trying to get clever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 16:59:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5213738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahbonjour/pseuds/ahbonjour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was nighttime when it happened, which was only appropriate.<br/>A glance around the Underground while Frisk goes to the throne room for the last time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Was Nighttime When It Happened

It was nighttime when it happened, which was only appropriate.

* * *

Sans’s breath came hot and whispered around his head as he ran through the woodlands around Snowdin, following the well-worn path his sneakers had trod many times. The door was right where he knew it would be, embedded in the rock wall. Maybe it had always been there. Would always be there. One of the constants.

He threw himself against the door as hard as he could, pounding on it with both fists, kicking it a little bit, too. “your majesty!” he yelled, not letting up his assault on the magic-proof door (he knows, he’s tried that one before). “open the door! please open the door! now! please!” His voice cracked and he banged his fist on it one last time. “please, toriel!”

As soon as he said her name the door flew open, revealing the former queen in all her surprised glory. “How did you know my name?”

The air caught in Sans’s throat as he looked up at her, traveling her enormous length to rest on her eyes. He stroked the journal in his pocket, remembering the sentence he’d underlined in another life—‘remember the first time you see her.’

“hi,” he said breathlessly.

* * *

Alphys had rigged her TV up, with Mettaton’s help, to broadcast the human’s journey to Asgore’s castle. The ratings were through the roof, they’d just hit a hundred viewers. Nearly every TV in the Underground was tuned in to watch.

“This publicity is amazing,” Mettaton murmured, rolling from side to side in front of the massive screen in the lab. “I simply must consult with the human when they get back on how to keep these numbers up when I’m back up on the air. I’m still upset you didn’t let me host, Alphys.”

“I-it seemed in poor taste,” Alphys murmured. She hadn’t looked at the screen once since the human had gone through to New Home.

“Are you alright, doctor?”

“I’m fine,” she said, stepping through the door to the bathroom. “D-don’t. Um. Wait up.”

“Aren’t you going to watch?”

Alphys shook her head and disappeared through the door. Mettaton watched the door for a moment, then shrugged and looked back at the screen, a thoughtful button under his finger. A disaffected expression on his face. Only if you looked at his heart would you notice it was shaking.

* * *

Someone had dragged one of the few TVs in Snowdin into Grillby’s and set it right in the middle of the dogs’ perpetual poker game. None of them minded. They all had stopped to watch, and as they did, paws clenched in righteous belief and want. Grillby had stopped cleaning and hovered around the edges, hoping someone would turn on closed captioning.

* * *

Papyrus had stopped answering when the human called. It was too difficult for him, he cried when he saw their name come up, every time. Eventually Undyne took the phone away. She sat with it on the couch now, fiddling with the ancient gray box. The human had stopped calling. Was it over already?

“THEY'LL BE FINE.”

Undyne looked up at Papyrus where he stood, all lank and length and anxiety in his kitchen doorway. He was gripping the wood too tight.

“THEY'LL BE FINE,” he repeated, and he didn’t look at her. “YOU DIDN'T SEE THEM WHEN I TRIED TO STOP THEM. THEY, HEH. THEY LOST TO ME. THREE TIMES!” He held up three fingers encased in a red boxing glove. “AND THEY NEVER HIT ME. THEY, AND ASGORE, THEY'RE JUST THE SAME.”

“Yeah,” Undyne mumbled, looking away again. She did not turn on the TV. She had tried and Papyrus had almost broken it in his rush to turn it off. “They are the same.”

“SO MAYBE…ASGORE WILL SEE THAT? AND HE WON'T WANT TO FIGHT SOMEONE WHO IS HIMSELF.”

“That’s always a possibility, Papyrus.”

“THEY NEVER DID A VIOLENCE,” Papyrus said, and his voice caught, and his knees shook. “THEY'LL BE FINE. RIGHT, UNDYNE?” Undyne didn’t answer. “RIGHT?”

“Papyrus, I…I don’t know.”

Papyrus stared at her for a moment, then nodded, walked to the front door, and stepped out. Undyne watched him for a moment, certain he was just going out to get some air until she saw him march by the window. Then she was scrambling after him.

“Papyrus!” she yelled. He turned his head but didn’t stop walking. “What are you doing?!”

“THEY'RE NOT GOING TO HIT HIM!” Papyrus replied, with the faintest hint of a smile. “SO WE HAVE TO DO IT ANOTHER WAY!”

Undyne watched him in stupefied amazement for a moment, then grinned a sharp grin and raced after him.

* * *

People stood on rooftops in New Home. Silent. Watching the human cross the bridge, not sure what to hope for.

* * *

“Come on, come on!” Alphys shouted, banging at the side of the tiny TV down in the true lab, standing where the human had stood not an hour ago. “Work, damn you! Work! Ah!” She screamed as an electric shock ripped through her and the television fluttered to life. “Yes!”

The human had reached the throne room, and they pressed their hand against the door’s cool wood the same way Alphys pressed her scaly claws against the cold glass of the television. The human looked back—were they looking at the camera? Were they looking at her? Alphys felt tears surge and she felt like she had failed and she felt her sins crawling up her back.

“Please,” she whispered, tears streaming out of her eyes. “Please. We need this so much.”

* * *

Sans coughed, tried not to think about how heavy he’d been breathing for someone with no lungs. “i’m sans. you might not remember me, but i was a royal scientist once, back when there were two of them. we never spoke, but i saw you a few times.” He waved his hands, trying to collect his thoughts. “i was a real _bone_ head back then.”

The woman in the doorway, Toriel, smiled. “You’re my joke buddy! I don’t remember you from…before…but—”

“it’s not important,” he said. His shoes were starting to soak through with snow. “listen—i watched the kid that came out of the ruins. i watched them do great things,” he cradled his head in his hands, fighting the oncoming ache, “and i watched them do horrible things, and i watched them watch someone else do things even worse, i watched them kill my brother and i watched them kill asgore and i watched them kill undyne _twice_ —!”

“Slow down, you’re not making any sense—”

“and i saw chara in them,” he whispered, looking up in time to see her flinch and cover her mouth. “and i saw asriel. but this time, more than both of those things, i saw _them_.”

“How do you—oh no,” Toriel whispered, leaning on the door to support her suddenly weak knees. “What did they _do_?”

“that’s the thing—they did everything _exactly right_.” Toriel’s ears twitched and Sans felt his smile grow broader, his words pick up the pace. “they didn’t do everything right the first few times. they got scared or they made a mistake, they got out a few times and a few times they got to the end and then they reset. they couldn’t do it. but this time—everything worked out. they didn’t hurt a single soul. didn’t even take a swing at them.”

Toriel beamed. “I knew they wouldn’t.”

“i know you do. your faith be _hooves_ you.” Sans stepped forward, stuffing his hands deep in his pockets. “do you know anything about the research gaster did?”

* * *

The echo flowers were whispering as a monster kid ran down past them, trying to make it home to his television.

“I hope the human wins.”

“I can’t wait to see sunshine.”

“King Asgore will save us all.”

A gentle laugh. “That’s my wish, too.”

* * *

Napstablook was always surprised when he got a phone call. He didn’t know why he even owned a phone anymore, he so rarely got calls. The caller ID said “LAB”, someone he didn’t have in his contacts.

He hit the answer button, but didn’t say anything for a moment. The voice on the other end said nothing either. Finally, he said, “…hey?”

“Blooky?”

If he had one, Napstablook would have felt his stomach drop. “…hey, Mettaton.”

 “Blooky! Thank goodness. I was worried I had the wrong number. What are you doing?”

“Laying on the ground and feeling like garbage.”

Mettaton laughed, a little sad, a little homesick. “Can I come over? There’s a…there’s….” And for once, the great Mettaton was at a loss for words.

Napstablook didn’t move, but he did blink. “…are you watching TV.”

“I have been.”

“…if you wanna come over, you can.”

“Good. I’m outside.”

* * *

“Personally, I’m rooting for the human,” Gerson said, leaning against the wall and examining his stubby nails. “I like Asgore well enough, but all this killing has to stop. He has lots of options, and we down here have never given up hope, nor will we. With us at his back he can do anything! I know he can. And besides, the human would never kill him. Every time they run into someone who wants to do them in, they hug them until they stop. It’d be cute if it weren’t so dang dangerous. What do you think?”

“human send tem to cool leg!!!” Temmie shouted. “tem root for human be win!!”

“yas!” another Temmie yelled. “GO HUMAN!!!!!!”

* * *

“Did we meet that kid?”

“I don’t know. I think so?”

Bratty swatted at Catty. “Scoot your fat butt over, I can’t see.”

“Who are you cheering for?”

“Asgore, duh!”

“Me too!” Catty turned back to the dilapidated television, hoping Bratty didn’t see the way her conviction flickered. “Me too.”

They held hands all the same.

* * *

“I got a call from Dr. Alphys.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah.” A pause. “My mom is coming home.”

“I thought your mom was dead.”

“I thought so too. But she’s alive. She’s not herself, whatever that means. But that doesn’t matter. She’s my mom. I love her.” A pause. “Alphys said to thank the human. So I think I’m gonna root for them.”

“After everything? All the waiting, all the promises? You’re rooting for the human?”

“They got my mom back to me, man. I would root for the Jerry if it brought my mom back.”

* * *

Royal Guard 01 dangled his feet over Hotland’s huge precipice. “So what’re we gonna do when we get to the surface? Do you have any, like, plans?” Royal Guard 02 was sitting next to him, hand laced together with his. “I’ve never met a human except for, y’know. And now we’re gonna meet a whole lot of them! Are you scared, bro? I’m scared. But I’ve got you, so I’m not as scared as before. I’m almost not scared at all! But I still, like, _am_.” He shook his feet. “I wanna get a house together,” he said quietly. “I want us to live in a house together, not barracks with a bunch of other people. A little white house, with a brown roof and a fence. I want there to be weather. I want to feel rain with you.”

Royal Guard 02 said nothing.

Royal Guard 01 stared into the abyss and said, “I love you, bro.”

Royal Guard 02 was silent for a long moment. “I love you, too.”

* * *

“You couldn’t have known.”

“i could have tried,” Sans spat, kicking his legs a little bit. Toriel’s kitchen was small, and her dining room table even smaller. She’d put a hot cup of liquid in front of him and he hadn’t drank any of it. “but…nah. nah, forget it. he’s gone. not much else left.” He pushed the cup away. “sorry. not really thirsty.” Toriel sat next to him, cupping her own mug of untouched hot drink. He glanced up at her and saw her studying him intently. “what? something under your skin?” He chuckled lamely. “sorry, i’m not at my peak.”

There was a sketch of him in Sans’s notebook. Two, actually: one of him when he was Sans’s friend, smiles and bone, and one of him as he was now, dripping and crying. Sans didn’t like looking at the second one. Underneath the sketches were lines of gibberish, a cipher with no code and his name.

Toriel half-smiled, swirling the liquid around. “I remember Gaster. He was my tutor, when I was a child. He was so—bright! So smart. All the way to the end. And you, the assistant tugging his coat. You never spoke to me.”

“he was crazy at the end,” Sans replied darkly. “he locked himself in his room for days, muttering to himself, writing on the walls.”

The smile had slipped from Toriel’s face and she sighed. “Why did you come here today?”

He started, flinched back. “what?”

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you with your brother?”

“he, uh.”

“Or with any of your other friends? Why did you come banging on my door, screaming bloody murder?”

“geez, can’t a guy scream bloody murder every once in a while without getting berated half to death?”

“Sans.” The way she said his name sent shivers up his spine. “Please answer me.”

“because gaster was right,” Sans whispered, the first time he’d said the words aloud to the first person he’d ever told his secrets to. “he was right all along. there are so many split timelines, so many opportunities lost and wasted and i don’t want this to be one of them. this might be the last shot i’ve got.”

“What do you mean?”

“call it intuition. a feeling deep in my bones. toriel—” he looked at her, saw the hope etched on her face, the spark of madness contained in all the ones he loved. He didn’t know how to get the words out. ‘in another time we are in love,’ he wanted to say. ‘i have pictures of our wedding. i love you already and i’m so scared. i don’t want to be alone if….’

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Finally:

“I don’t want to be alone,” she said.

He blinked, his tongue dry. “what?”

He hadn’t noticed she’d begun to shake, broad shoulders shivering as if caught by a sudden wind. “I don’t want to be alone when it happens.”

And now his words were gone and his notebook meaningless. Her house smelled like cinnamon and golden flowers, and Toriel was crying beside him, and he was holding her hand. “toriel, i’m sorry.”

Toriel wiped her eye. “No, I—I—” she slapped her hand on the table, rising and standing over Sans with a resolute glint in her eye. “Show me your shortcut to the castle.”

* * *

Everyone sat with clenched, desperate hands, hoping Asgore would find another way out. They looked from Asgore to the human, watched how heavy Asgore’s brow fell, watched how the human’s fists curled with willpower.

“…I see,” Asgore said. “This is it, then.” He sighed, his chin fell. “Human. It was nice to meet you.” He readied his trident, and the human clutched their rusty knife in shaking, sweating hands. “Goodbye.”

Frisk braced themselves. They knew what came next.  _(But Nobody Came.)_ whispered in their ears like a gunshot.

But instead—

— _oh!_

They saw fire on the horizon.


End file.
